The Barmaid's Tale

At dockside nightclubs in Cape Town and Durban, barmaids fetch drinks for foreign seamen and local prostitutes. But many are also available for romantic trysts. So what are they really?: waitresses or prostitutes?

Most dockside barmaids focus on serving drinks. That's their "real" job. They get a salary for it. Plus tips.

But they can earn better tips if they actually sit with the guys, chat with them, entertain them. So a couple of clubs allow the barmaids to do double-duty: serve drinks and hang out with the sailors. She keeps the boss happy by making sure the seamen keep buying liquor. And she makes herself happy knowing that she'll get a greater tip at the end of the evening for her personal attentions.

So, if a girl want lots of money, what are the pros and cons of being a barmaid?

Pros:
* they enjoy great mobility in the club, allowing them to meet lots of guys
* they avoid hostility from the prostitutes because they're just doing their job
* they deflect the stigma of being prostitutes because they have legitimate employment
* they can pass themselves off as "normal" women to men who don't want sex with a prostitute, but a "straight" lady
* and if they're shy, they can still meet lots of men because their job makes them move around the club a lot.

Cons:
* they can't abandon their bar work to go off with a client; they have to finish their shift (or pay a R200 exit fee)
* they can't wear alluring outfits, just the boring bar uniform
* they're not always sought after for sex because the sailors think they're just barmaids, not prostitutes
* they're not supposed to drink on duty, nor dance (unless the club is empty)

But Durban and Cape Town are different. An example: In Durban, a shy pro stopped soliciting so that she could become a barmaid. She didn't like dressing up every night or having to approach men. So she donned the barmaid’s uniform: jeans, takkies, t-shirt with club logo, and a skipper’s cap. This lowered her ability to attract attention, but it allowed her to constantly meet guys. With a server’s tray in hand, she could move about, getting lots of valuable face-time with the men. And the prostitutes wouldn't bother getting jealous because it was simply her job. Though she’d usually be busy serving liquor orders, she could hint to customers that she was free afterwards.

This is a fairly typical scenario in Durban. Many women move from prostitute to barmaid. They appreciate the steady, if small, income they can earn. And they like the fact that they can still get guys every once in awhile.

But in Cape Town, the women tend to go from barmaid to prostitute. They come to the clubs as young girls, become barmaids, then realize that they prefer the freedom that the pros have. They want to work their own hours. They want the cash bonanza that comes with a sexual contract. Being a barmaid ties them down too much. So, after some months as barmaids, they switch to being full-time pros.

Price Gouging Prostitutes

At the dockside nightclubs in Cape Town and Durban, prostitutes compete with each other for foreign seafaring clients. The ladies may be colleagues, but they're also rivals. Seeking to secure their own livelihoods, they deploy sneaky strategies to outwit their competitors. One particularly dangerous ploy is to undercut the competition by reducing the price for sex.

In Cape Town, many sailors are repeat-visitors. As fishing trawlermen, they come back to Cape Town every few months. Many establish relationships with the women. If a seaman returns to port, he expects his woman to be available for him. And she expects him to seek her out too. They enjoy a temporary bond that the other girls are supposed to respect.

But if a woman doesn't have a boyfriend arriving soon, she may find it difficult to make money. The other sailors may already be attached to other women. So what's she to do? She can't just steal him away. She'll earn a sound beating from the angry rival and her associates. Everyone agrees that overt theft of a client is a no-no.

The most devious way to poach another lady's client is to offer him a cheaper rate for sex. If he normally pays R600 ($90) for an engagement, she may charge him half that. If he's game, she'll make arrangements to meet outside the club without anyone finding out. Then, she hopes, he'll brush off his other woman for her.

Recently, a woman poached another lady's regular Chilean client by charging him only R200 ($30). They secretly met and had their fun. When he sailed away a few days later, no one knew that they had been together. But when he came back, he met up with his other regular woman at the club and offered to pay her just R200 for a session. She looked at him like he was crazy.

She tells him, "We always go for R600. What makes you think you can have me for so cheap now?!" Then he told her he only paid R200 for the other lady. So, he doesn't want to be ripped off.

The pro was livid. She grabbed his R200, stuffed it in her bra, and marched up to the poacher and hit her in the face until her nose started bleeding. Then she waved a dismissive hand toward the seaman, saying, "You can have her! I don't want a cock that's been dipped in that 200 rand pussy!"

Price gouging is common in any business. It grants consumers products that they desire for a cheaper price. And it rewards producers with new clientele, even if the initial profit margin is thin. But at the dockside clubs, price gougers can face the violent wrath of rivals who see them undercutting their ability to make business.

In fact, most women recognize that price gouging is a self-defeating strategy. Over time, guys may demand the cut-rate deals all the time. Ultimately, it drives down the value of the women's services, making it harder to make a living through sex work.

Tricks of the Trade

Dockside prostitutes in Cape Town and Durban use a variety of tactics to part foreign sailors from their money. The most legitimate way is to provide companionship and sexual services to the seamen, then get paid for it. But sometimes they get a bit sneaky. Sometimes they don't want to bother with the sex, so they find other ways to get the money.

Hustling: The women provide companionship to seamen at the dockside clubs. If the interaction does not lead to a sexual contract, the women content themselves with hustling drinks, cigarettes, food, taxi fare, and tips from the guys. For women past their prime, this is their primary work activity. Guys rarely take them for sex, so they hustle tips through conversation and dancing with the guys.

Robbery: Sometimes the ladies steal from the sailors at the nightclubs. They may reach into their pockets while hugging them. Or, while the guy is using the toilet, they may simply put on his jacket and walk out of the club with his money. But if they're caught, they'll be banned for a time, a difficult penance for most. So they prefer to entice the money out of the guys through hustling.

But in years past, according to many older pros and club owners, they used to concoct elaborate scams with the help of the cab drivers. Here's what would happen:

A cab driver would pick up a sailor in the harbor and take him to meet a girl. The girl would join the sailor in the taxi and suggest going to a house in a nearby suburb. They'd go. Along the way, another cab driver crony would attack them when they were stopped at a "STOP" sign, wearing a balaclava and waving a gun. The driver would hold his hands up in fear. The girl would scream with feigned fright. And the clueless sailor would hand over his wallet in terror. Then the cabbie and girl would drop the sailor back at the ship, expressing their sorrow at his misfortune. Once they'd left, though, they'd meet up with their crony who just robbed the sailor and split the money.

Drugging: In most nightclub contexts, men are usually the ones guilty of slipping something into a female's drink to reduce her capacity for resistance. But at the dockside nightclubs, it's the female prostitutes who do all the drugging. Sometimes they try to drug each other so that they can steal each other's clients. But they prefer use it on a seaman so that they can get a hold of his money without him struggling or remembering.

The other night I interviewed a 29 year-old coloured Muslim prostitute who's been in the game for 11 years. She says that when she first started, the older women taught her how to drug the seamen so that she could steal their money and not have sex with them. They told her:

"Put 3 drops of Visine eye drops into the guy's drink (neat whiskey and hard liquors work best). Let him drink it. Then take him to the hotel. Have him pay you your fee when you enter the room. Then lay him on the bed while you start stripping down. Before you're even done, the sailor should be out cold from the knock-out drops. Rifle through his pockets for the rest of his money, then leave. When you see him the next evening at the club, smile as if you both had the best sex ever! He won't remember a thing!"

Such tricks are inevitable in a context where people want money or sex and where the other party is vulnerable (due to drunkenness, foreign ignorance of the surroundings, or isolation). And while this would raise all kinds of alarms in almost any other setting, it's just another normal piece of the dockside jigsaw puzzle.

Pool-Hustling Prossies

At dockside nightclubs in Cape Town and Durban, foreign sailors enjoy playing pool. During an evening at the clubs, they take a break from the singing, dancing, and drinking to knock some balls around.

The other night in Cape Town, two prostitutes carouse and cavort with three Chinese sailors in the club. Seeing that the seamen are getting drunk, the ladies challenge them to a game of pool. Losers pay 50 rands each.

The Chinese accept. They rack the balls, chalk their sticks, line up the cue, and start banking solids. They quickly fill the pockets around the table. The ladies, however, miss wide, making it all-too-easy for the sailors.

The Chinese win. "Fifty bucks," they say with satisfaction. The girls look at each other and reply "best 3 out of 5." The Chinese agree.

And just as before, the sailors continue to clean house. When they take their third straight game, they beam, "OK, now give us money."

But the girls just shrug, reaching for their beer bottles to leave. "We were just kidding. We don't have any money."

The Chinese knit their brows in confusion. Then they get pissed. "What?! Where's your money?! You made the bet! You must pay!"

The women mosey away, seemingly unconcerned. They enter the club lobby with the Chinese hot on their heels. The shortest, drunkest sailor gets into the girls' faces. He screams, "Fuck you! Give money! Fuck you! Give money!" He shoves one of them and tries to slap the other. The women shove right back.

The owner and bouncer intervene, separating the opposing parties. They calm down the angry sailors, gently ushering them back to the disco. Meanwhile, the girls hang back, looking slightly sheepish.

Within two minutes, the altercation is over and long-forgotten. The sailors attach themselves to new ladies. The pool-hustling prossies walk around the corner to buy loose cigarettes at the tuck-shop. The bouncer returns to his post at the door. And the owner and I continue chatting as if nothing happened (while he pockets his palm-sized can of pepper spray).

Such deceptions are common in the dockside prostitution racket. The ladies have little to lose, except the warm feelings of the sailors (who, in this case, are not taking them out for sex anyway). They know that, if the seamen get blustery about it, the bouncers will protect them. So they take a cheap gamble. Why not? If they win, they split 150 rands ($22). If they lose, they just walk away.

Worth the risk, they figure.